FILE - This Jan. 1, 2014 file photo shows Dante de Blasio during the public inauguration ceremony for his father Mayor Bill de Blasio at City Hall in New York. The mayor's wife, Chirlane McCray, announced via Twitter Wednesday April 29, 2015 that their son will be attending Yale University this fall. (AP Dante de Blasio on Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 31: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray, Chiara De Blasio and Dante De Blasio attend New Year's Eve 2015 in Times Square on December 31, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/WireImage)

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, during his State of the City speech, laid out the progress his administration made on fighting inequality in 2014.

3-February-New York, NY: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers his State of the City Address held at Mason Hall at Baruch College on February 3, 2015 in New York City. RTNJennings/MediaPunch/IPX

The mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino (L) poses with New York city mayor Bill de Blasio, his wife Chirlane McCray (hidden) and their children Dante and Chiara at the entrance of Rome's city hall before their meeting on July 20, 2014. AFP PHOTO / ANDREAS SOLARO (Photo credit should read ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images)

3-February-New York, NY: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers his State of the City Address held at Mason Hall at Baruch College on February 3, 2015 in New York City. RTNJennings/MediaPunch/IPX

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 03: New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray listens while her husband Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers his State of the City address at Baruch College on February 3, 2015 in New York City. De Blasio focused particularly on affordable housing in the speech and also announced plans for a new ferry service. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 03: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers his State of the City address at Baruch College on February 3, 2015 in New York City. De Blasio focused particularly on affordable housing in the speech and also announced plans for a new ferry service. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 31: Alek Wek, Sonam Lama, Jencarlos Canela, Nykhor Paul, David Miliband, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray, Dante De Blasio and Chiara De Blasio attend New Year's Eve 2015 in Times Square on December 31, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/WireImage)

Mayor Bill de Blasio Delivers 2015 State of the City Address
Baruch College
New York, Ny 10010
February 3,2015

New York Mayor Bill Bill de Blasio delivers his State of the City address at Baruch College, in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015. He detailed his ambitious plans to build and preserve affordable housing throughout New York City. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 03: New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton listens while Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers his State of the City address at Baruch College on February 3, 2015 in New York City. De Blasio focused particularly on affordable housing in the speech and also announced plans for a new ferry service. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 31: Dante De Blasio attends New Year's Eve 2015 in Times Square on December 31, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/WireImage)

GRASSANO, ITALY - JULY 24: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray, Chiara de Blasio and Dante de Blasio stand for the national anthem at a welcome ceremony during a visit to Mayor de Blasio's grandmother's town on July 24, 2014 in Grassano, Italy. The New York City mayor and his family are on an eight-day holiday in Italy but de Blasio has plans to meet with Italy's foreign minister, Federica Mogherini, and with Pietro Parolin, the Holy Sees secretary of state. (Photo by Giovanni Marino/Getty Images)

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2014 file photo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, and his son, Dante, march in the West Indian Day Parade in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The mayor's wife, Chirlane McCray, announced via Twitter Wednesday April 29, 2015, that their son will be attending Yale University this fall. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio's son, Dante, who starred in one of the most notable political ads in New York City history, will be attending Yale University this fall.

Dante, now 17, became a familiar face to New Yorkers during the stretch run of the 2013 mayoral campaign. His father, then the public advocate, had languished in fourth place for months leading up to that September's Democratic primary.

But as some of the leading candidates - including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former congressman Anthony Weiner - saw their bids collapse, the de Blasio team put out an ad that changed the course of the campaign.

Bill de Blasio, a white man married to a black woman, had railed against what he deemed the overuse of stop and frisk, a police tactic that allowed officers to stop anyone they deemed suspicious. Its critics charged that it discriminated against black and Latino men.

But the argument really resonated when his teenage son, who identifies as black and sports a distinctive Afro, made the same case.

"He is the only one who will end a stop-and-frisk era that unfairly targets people of color," Dante said in the ad's voiceover. "Bill de Blasio will be a mayor for every New Yorker, no matter where they live or what they look like, and I'd say that even if he weren't my dad."

After that ad aired, the son became nearly as big of a star as the father, drawing louder cheers at that year's West Indian Day Parade than the candidate. Bill de Blasio then captured the party's primary and breezed to a general election victory.

Dante was at the center of another political debate over police and community relations last December. After a grand jury declined to indict the white police officer who placed Eric Garner, who was black, in a fatal chokehold, the mayor publicly recalled having to warn Dante about the potential dangers of an encounter with police.

Those comments were seized on by the police unions and were at the heart of a cold war between City Hall and many New York Police Department officers.

But Dante de Blasio's actual appearances in the public eye have been rare since his father took office. He has largely focused on his studies at Brooklyn Tech High School, one of the city's elite public high schools. He and a classmate captured the state high school debate championship in March.

His older sister, Chiara, attends Santa Clara University in California.